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Van Halen
Van Halen
By Steven R. Rochlin
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Vinyl: DCC Compact Classics LPZ-20
Not only has DCC remastered (arguably)
the best Van Halen album ever unleashed on the public, we have it available on 180-gram
virgin vinyl! Ecstasy! Rapture!!! Of course those who know David Lee Roth
(DLR)
will attest that this vinyl is probably the only virgin thing he's been on. Van Halen
later became Van Hager and who knows (or cares) what they are now. In my opinion without
David Lee Roth the band is horrible and may as well pack it up and go home. Anyway, this
was Halen's first album featuring eleven great songs like the high SPL demanding drum and
guitar duet "Eruption" which has so many awesome guitar licks it could melt your
brain, tweeters, and amplifier output devices all at the same time! Of course
"Eruption" is followed by the ever popular song "You Really Got Me"
which is cram-packed with that famous glitzy DLR personality, Eddie Van Halen's patented
guitar licks, and brother Alex's hard-hitting cymbal thrashing drum beats. "Runnin'
With the Devil", "I'm The One" and "Jamie's Cryin'" were never my
favorite songs personally, though Halen more than makes up for it with "Atomic
Punk", "Little Dreamer" and of course "Ice Cream Man".
"Atomic Punk" was, and in some ways still is one of my personal life theme song. The days of living out of my car, roaming the streets wild, getting stupidly drunk and stoned… Anyway, what makes this song great is the lightning fast guitar playing and DLR screaming out the lyrics like he lived the song too. While this is surely no "audiophile" chick singer and piano sound, those who are into great heavy rock n' roll will find themselves totally elated! "Atomic Punk" is just one of those song that can simply drive a man to drink, smoke, and who know what else! Remember: Nobody rules these streets at nights like me. The atomic punk!!!
Of course "Little Dreamer" is no slouch of a song either. Taking down the energy level a few notches from "Atomic Punk" you instead get this steady groovy-rockin' beat. This time the guitar solo is a bit mellower and DLR is <gasp> singin' more than screamin'. Ok, so DLR is screaming a small amount here too. Maybe the song should have been titled Little Screamer?
Of course this brings us to the "state-of-the-art" rock n' roll summertime tune here. That's right, I'm talking about "Ice Cream Man". Any great Halen fan probably knows this song by heart. For those that don't, it starts out all mellow with Dave singing about being an ice cream man telling the ladies how all his flavors are guaranteed to satisfy (read in-between the lines anyone). Of course here is another chance to hear Eddie Van Halen's patented signature double hammering guitar style that initially gave him his claim to fame in the guitar world.
Taken from the original 1978 master tape, none other than the great golden-eared music lover himself Steve Hoffman adds his ever-loving care to remaster this; the greatest sounding and jamming Van Halen album in my collection. Steve uses the Legacy Whisper speaker system and the VAC Renaissance one-forty monoblock amplifiers used as tube cutting amps to assist in making this great 180 gram vinyl release (also available on gold CD too). This new DCC vinyl release is so great it is more like having 180 grams of the best rock music injected into my veins! DCC has been releasing many great rock albums and this new release is just one of many "must have" titles. Go out and get yourself some before they're all gone.
Enjoyment: 95
Sound Quality: 70
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